Applejack's parents have been dead for the past ten years. She's mourned them, but she has also kept on going, at peace with her loss.

That is, until a note reaches her, which is emblazoned with the cutie mark of her mother, Lightning Hammer.

But the note raises more questions than it answers. How is Pony Applejack's mother in the human world? What is the mysterious "Red Hand"? And why does the note tell them to beware of the "Second Ones"?

The answers to these questions lead to a complicated web of lies, trickery, and deception. As both Humans and Ponies race against time to discover the truth, the shadows of the past loom, threatening to end all chance of a future…